Hunting from the ground with no blind!!
 

How many of you ever tried this, hunting from the ground with no blind? I did it with Rob/pa this evening and man I tell ya that is some tough hunting! We had a very exciting hunt shots were almost fired twice! I found this as more of a rush than hunting in a stand and I plan to do more of it in the future.
I think this will be a great challenge for me and I am now really looking forward to taking a deer from the ground with my bow! If I get out anymore This year it will be from the ground! (Rob it will be in the same spot maybe down closer to creek) look forward to hearing some of your stories and strategies to hunting this way!

Diffiantly a challenge
 

I harvested a doe this year from the ground. Its fun but often your busted.

Very rewarding and skill and patience is the key.

Feer win most the times.

Im enjoying building natural ground blinds. Now that fun as well.

Nothing better than eye to eye with a whitetail deer.
DB

I've killed quite a few deer this way, however, for everyone I've killed, I probably got busted 100 times. It definitely gets your heart pumping, though! True Indian style hunting!

Best of Luck to you guys
Jeff

Tim,

I had a great time and thank you again for your hospitality. I truly appreciate it. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Keep me posted on the hunts. They deer are there and I think you can get it done.

We almost did today, Almost! :cool2:

I used to hunt the ground all the time (years ago) when we could still bait. 15 Yards was a rush but I had a big tree that completely hid me. I would wait and draw behind the tree and just peek out enough to get a shot. Those were some of my best times bowhunting.

I have hunted like this for years now. My favorite way. Definately the most exciting and dissappointing at the same time. Extreme highs and lows. I shot a nice 9 point this year at 1 yard with no blind. It is the highlight of my hunting career.

I've done it and it is a Challenge, but also a Blast!!:D

Dan

I've taken a couple deer from the ground (one at 10 yards and the other at 17 yards), a rush It Is!! No ground blinds of any sort, I just used what mother nature had and made It work. You damn right It's a challenge Tim, a fun and exciting one at that!!

Best of luck there bud In getting yourself a deer from the ground this year!! Make It happen!!

This is the only way I hunt Turkeys. No pop up anyway!! I build mine from natural materials. Have never tried to hunt deer this way though!

I have bowhunted turkey from a creek bed and whenever you get ready to shoot you just move up to the ground a bit and it's really shady so your movements are concealed. I have only tried that once but didn't get anything. I have also tried spot and stalk on turkeys with my bow, doesn't work for.

Right there with ya, Dink. I started doing this about mid-way through my '09 season. I'm gonna take one that way.....or I'm not gonna take one. I'm fine with that.

I've hunted deer off the ground with a stickbow (using a standing tree and a root ball for cover) and "almost" got a shot. I've hunted using other natural cover, as well.....with nothing to show for it............................................YET.

That's an ongoing goal of mine, though. And I'll continue to mix in ground hunts with my tree jaunts. I hope to make it happen in 2010, also. I can also see an entire season of ground hunting in my future..........no blind.

I've yet to equal the excitement of being 14yds from a whitetail with nothing between me and her.....on her level.

My last 2 deer have been killed on the ground w/o a blind. I've always enjoyed that style of hunting.

When I first started deer hunting in the early 70's I hunted from the ground exclusivly. I've probably killed about 10 deer from the ground. Six of them with a bow. It is VERY exciting! But, I've since learned that hunting from a tree is far more productive because it offers a much better view and you'll have much less chance of being detected.

that's the way i usually hunt - the rush is sooo intense at seeing the deer come so close at eye level, even when i get busted i am not disappointed. plus it's alot more comfortable for me and i don't have to worry about my weapon of choice falling from a treestand(which has happened to me twice).

I do both
 

Blind hunting is fun and rewarding. Far tougher for deer than turkeys. Never had a monster deer in frnt of my DB Blind. I do think natural could work better.

Few pictures from blind hunting. I just have a ball getting this close to deer regardless the size. I have used cheapy blinds as in first picture. And I use the DB which is so comfortable.

early in my bowhunting career, i hunkered down within a blowdown and took a young doe only 11 yards away, eye level...i could hear her breathing...darn right it was intense...you got the rush now...hope to hear a good story from you in the future

Until last Friday (1-1-10) hunting from the ground was all I've done. I have a blind set up in the woods, but I've used natural cover way more. Of course being a newbie, I never had a sighting, much less a shot! I figure it's one more tactic in the arsenal. I've only used a stand twice so far, but I think it will be way more productive for me. However, there is something about stalking and hiding in the bushes that is just fun for me.

I can top that
 

Once was lying in prone position on the ground in leafy wear. Had a deer aproach from my backside. I couldnt move. Deer stepped on my leg. Never knew I was there. Buddy was sitting six yards away and witnessed the whole thing. Six point buck with three does. After he left my buddy said I thought he was going to mount you.:biggrin: I said I was hoping you would let that happen. One of the most amazing days ever in the woods. Amazing how close one can get in leafy wear.
DB

DB,
I agree Blind Hunting is Fun and has it's place, although I prefer hunting a Treestand for Deer when feasible.

I have killed Turkeys with a Bow from the ground, but for me tags are too hard to draw and hunting time is too short I like the advantage a Blind gives me. It is strange to me that animals that depend so much on their eyesight seem to disregard a blind, Antelope, Turkeys, Mule Deer.

Whitetails are much, much more wary when it comes to ground blinds.

Dan

Yesterday it was like 20 degrees and 35mph winds so rob and I decided to try a ground hunt! This was the begining of something exciting for me! When the 1st two deer walked to us after being on the ground for 15 minutes I was pumped up! It was a totally different feeling then being in a tree! This was real us the deer eye to eye awsome!!! I think I am hooked! Rob probably got the ****s of me whispering to him how awsome it was!

i love hunting from the ground, becoming one with a tree or a briar bush. Ive killed 5 p&y bucks this way, in fact this is the first year that i have killed a p&y from a tree stand. I just use a stool and nestle up to some cover. knowing when to move is the key!

Jeff I can tell ya the key that has really hepled me in natural ground blinds for turks is having barriers on two sides of my blind that allows me to draw when quarry is behind them, and then wait for them to step into shooting lane. One of my blinds is a root ball crater hole (like you mentioned) Im blessed to have ALOT of small pines where I hunt that I use for my barriers. They make great back drop to to get shaded in. Good luck, I expect pics this spring ;)

LOL....Dink...that tactic doesn't work too well with 0% letoff!

yes its a lot of fun and very tough with a bow

:happy0157: What the hell was i thinking :happy0157: lmao!! you have a point there :happy0001:

hey some great posts!!!

We all have those moments in hunting that we'll never forget, one of my all time favorites happened when hunting from the ground.

I have 5 boys, had taken the older two out deer and bear hunting, the 3 remaining boys had been out but not as much, they were buggin me one Saturday morning that i never take them...I told them to gather up some gear to sit for a few hours, they grabbed some hockey magazines, I grabbed a pop up blind, a heater and some stools and off we went. I decided to head to my archery spot, didn't have a clue how it would all play out but decided to put them in a pop up blind, close to the river so that they wouldn't be winded, got them set up with thier heater and magazines and told them not to poke thier heads out of the windows and try to be as quiet as possible...a tough job for an 8year old and two 10 year olds!!
now the problem was, where i had to put them didn't allow me to sit in one of the 3 stands i have at that location, if i wanted them to possibly see anything, i had to find a place to hunker down along the river, my only choice was to find somewhere with a bit of cover. I settled on sitting beside a big tree on the ground, I could see the boys about 60 yards to the south of me. It started to snow and blow from the north, lucky they had a heater. I had no hopes that we were going to have success but oh well they were very happy to be out. about an hour in, a doe runs past them and takes a trail about 3 yards away from me...wow i thought, maybe we will see something! about 10 minutes later another doe followed by a small forkhorn make their way by me at about 5 yards, now I am really pumped!! I look over to the ground blind and am pleased to not see 3 heads poking out the window...oh man, 50 yards behind the blind right under one of my stands is a decent buck! I grab my grunt and give it a couple of blows, then use my bleat can a couple of times...the buck spins around and starts sprinting in my direction, he passes by the boys at about 20 yards. He's coming straight at me and at about 60 yards i realize that i am going to have to draw very slowly as he's looking in my direction. I slowly pull back and at about 35 yards he stops and turns broadside, I let fly and make a great hit on him, he turns and heads into a shallow coulee. here's the best part, I turn back towards the blind and i see the three boys out of the blind doing as they called it, a happy dance...they had seen the whole thing but even better, this is how thet described it to me...we saw the buck behind us, we heard you grunt and then we saw it run right by us, we watched you draw back the bow and we saw the arrow fly at the deer and we saw it come out the other side...we knew it was a dead deer! The 4 of us tracked it and found it a short ways from where i shot it, they helped me gut it and drag it to the truck....does it get any better than that, they about that story often!!

Great Story and pictures, Ron! What a great morning for you and those boys!

Best of Luck,
Jeff

Hunted from the ground with no blind today and got a young doe. this is often what i do in late season with the bow. certainly is exciting and tough!

thats how I got my buck Im set up in between two big oaks about 3 ft apart sitting on a bucket really enjoyed it being my first year i was suprised to get one

Guess it depends on what you mean by 'blind.' To me, it either means one of the TENTS that are currently popular, or what has been referred to as a 'natural blind,' i.e. a blow down or the like that is hunted as-is, or perhaps has been modified a bit. Personally, I don't use the tents, but the biggest deer I ever harvested (9 point) was from a natural blind. I've also taken a few from no blind at all.

Small buck at 8 yards - the funny thing is that at the time the longest distance in our apartment was 8 yards so that is the distance I did most of my practicing at. He passed within 5 yards of me on three sides, turned in an unexpected direction and stopped right in front of me - had I let him pass he'd have done a complete circle less a step or two. I had skunk scent out.

Doe at 15 yards.